Both Facebook and Twitter can be amazing if used well. But one of the things I like about Twitter is that your home feed isn’t controlled by a fancy algorithm. It’s temporal instead. The messages show up as they’re posted, with no extra filtering (except for promoted tweets).

You can definitely argue that the algorithms Facebook and Google use to show us relevant information can be useful. But we also need platforms that are more random and free-wheeling, so that we get exposed to things outside our “filter bubble.”

This TED Talk by Eli Pariser explains the idea of a “filter bubble.” It’s a good one to watch if you have a few minutes.

Algorithms on social networks can be helpful. But we also need platforms that have simpler dynamics — where we can see a more unfiltered view of what other people are thinking and doing.

Hi There

My name's Jared and this is my personal blog. I'm interested in web development, social media, movies, science, and more. I teach a social media class, so sometimes my posts are from that perspective. But I use this space to talk about other things, too.